Q&A:

29 July, 2011

employee taken our prize?

Page 24

QOne of our employees is responsible for placing all our stationery orders. The supplier we use regularly runs competitions and, this month, our employee has been selected as its winner; the prize is a digital camera. This has caused bad feeling among other staff and a few have proposed that it is raffled off for a local charity. We don't have a problem with this, but the winner is refusing to hand it over; he claims the camera is legally his. So does it belong to us (as it was our order) or our employee (because he was the contact name when it was placed)?

AUnfortunately, many suppliers do this. Rather than being a "prize", the item on offer is really just an incentive for customers to place orders; the same rule applies to free gifts. However, the bottom line is that this type of item belongs to you, not your employee, no matter what he says. This is because, when the order was placed, he was acting on your behalf during the course of his employment, in other words, it wasn't his personal order. So it is perfectly acceptable for you to demand that he hand the prize over. If you wish to raffle it off as suggested, that is entirely your choice. Alternatively, it could be retained as a business asset.

Energy efficiency certificates

We have had a couple of enquiries recently from members saying that someone has contacted them informing them that they have to have an 'Energy Efficiency Certificate'. If they didn't they could be fined £5,000. This is totally untrue; the only time you would need this certificate would be if you were selling or leasing/renting a property.Further information and details are available at: http://tinyurl.com/64pws73.